Services

QUEST Canada supports governments, utilities & energy providers, the real-estate sector, and solution providers to grow the Smart Energy Communities marketplace with custom, trusted, and independent services.

Energy Mapping Workshops

An integrated approach to community energy planning is needed by governments, utilities, and the building sector to achieve a sustainable energy future - a future with lower energy costs, reduced GHG emissions, enhanced economic development, and greater resiliency.

QUEST’s proprietary Energy Mapping Workshops bring the right stakeholders together for an engaging, hands-on approach to community energy planning. Community energy planning is recognized across Canada as an effective pathway to Smart Energy Communities. It provides a platform for multiple stakeholder groups to convene, coordinate, and implement innovative community energy projects and programs, resulting in more energy efficient, resilient and vibrant communities.

Who Benefits:

QUEST’s energy mapping workshops can be customized for a variety of audiences with a wide range of expertise and can be designed to focus on developing energy literacy, strengthening energy planning alignment amongst stakeholders, or defining energy priorities for:

\

Governments (municipal, provincial/territorial and federal)

\

The building sector

\

Utilities

\

Professional associations

\

Local non-profits

\

Energy service providers

\

The public

What We Offer:

QUEST specializes in the development of energy mapping workshops focused on educating and inspiring participants to take an integrated, systems-thinking approach to community energy planning. QUEST delivers workshops focused on:

\

Envisioning the future of energy production, delivery and end use in communities

\

Educating and building the capacity of emerging energy practitioners to implement community energy projects and programs

\

Enabling collaboration among key stakeholders to inform a community energy plan and identify local projects

Biomass North Development Centre

Bioheat Opportunities in Rural and Remote Communities Workshop
When Biomass North was tasked with delivering a workshop to educate Northern Ontario stakeholders on bioheat opportunities for rural and remote communities, it thought of QUEST when it came to educating stakeholders on the importance of Community Energy Planning.

What Our Clients Say

“QUEST brought concrete and interactive tools and knowledge that proved invaluable for communities in the north in the development of their community energy plans. Their mapping exercise facilitated conversations between different stakeholder groups that may not have happened otherwise.”

Francis Gallo, Project Director

Biomass North Development Centre

Community Energy Planning Support

QUEST supports clients to enable Community Energy Plan (CEP) implementation. Our staff and Senior Associates draw on decades of experience and a vast network of community energy planning practitioners to bring your CEP to life.

The successful implementation of CEPs requires the participation of a wide range of community stakeholders. QUEST offers CEP implementation support to all stakeholders engaged in CEP development and execution, including governments (municipal, Indigenous, provincial/territorial and federal), utilities (gas, electric, thermal and water) product and service providers, and the development community (owners, operators, and builders).

What We Offer:

CEP Preparation Phase Services

\

Municipal readiness assessments (e.g., administering QUEST’s protocol for CEP implementation to generate an assessment and/or next steps report)

\

Independent verification of CEPs and their supporting technical materials (e.g., energy maps, procurement instruments)

\

Utility and product and service provider market validation of CEP services (e.g., evaluation of business platform or product optimization for the CEP marketplace)

CEP Implementation Services

\

Planning alignment services to integrate plans and processes of CEP enabling and implementing stakeholders to coordinate objectives and accelerate implementation

\

Tailored engagement practices that allow all voices to be heard and engaged to ensure implementation is realized for a CEP (e.g., decision support processes)

With QUEST’s support, the City of Campbell River has been able put some of the key pieces in place to support the long-term implementation of our Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP). QUEST helped us to rethink the value proposition of our CEEP and helped to foster the internal alignment and buy-in we needed to implement the energy measures identified in the plan.

-Marianne Wade, Development Services Manager, City of Campbell River

Custom Services

Technology disruptors, extreme weather events, and a changing policy landscape are just some of the fundamental changes in the energy sector that present unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Our Custom Services are designed to help you navigate the Smart Energy Communities marketplace.

Retainer Services

The successful implementation of Smart Energy Communities on any scale requires an integrated approach on both the policy side and the technical side. QUEST has pioneered this approach and developed a set of comprehensive policy and technical principles.

We have an experienced multidisciplinary team with specialized knowledge in engagement strategies, decision support processes, and tools designed to advance Smart Energy Communities. Build your custom support package based on the following offerings:

\

Public policy development

\

Report research and creation

\

Decision-support processes

\

Planning facilitation & alignment

\

Community consultation & engagement

\

Land use planning

\

Communications including briefing materials, opportunity summaries, and issue summaries

Group Facilitation

Through our experience providing working group management support for the operation of regional and national Smart Energy Community networks, we create environments where people and organizations know that they have been listened to and can learn from one another, while also remaining an objective convener.

This service benefits working groups, task forces, and communities of practice consisting of all levels of government, utilities, the building sector and other stakeholder groups engaged in energy at the community level.

Project Management

\

Terms of Reference and work plans

\

Meeting & task coordination

\

Communications - listserves, web pages, and other communications tools and visual materials, contact management

Events & Meetings

\

Research & content development

\

Agendas and programming

\

Marketing and promotion

\

Summary reports and follow-up

What Our Clients Say

Workshop and EMMC Report - Toward a Positive Energy Future in Northern and Remote Communities

"Working with QUEST helped us to convene more than 60 First Nation, territorial, provincial, and federal governments; regional indigenous organizations; community representatives, utilities; and, local industry stakeholders to explore the unique energy challenges and opportunities of northern and remote communities. QUEST's summary report from the event was discussed by Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Energy Ministers who met in Iqaluit in August 2018 at the annual 2018 Energy and Mines Ministers' Conference.”

Paul Piasko, Manager, Public Affairs Branch

Natural Resources Canada, Government of Canada

Visit the Project Webpage

Community Energy Initiative Workshop

“We are appreciative of the effort by QUEST for conducting a knowledge workshop for Alectra’s managers on Community Energy Initiatives. They successfully met the objectives of the assignment, acted professionally and delivered on time.”

Dan Pastoric, Vice President, Strategic Growth & Special Projects

Alectra

Resilience Workshops

Understanding how climate risks and vulnerabilities impact our energy systems is key to planning for safer, healthier, and more resilient communities

QUEST’s interactive resilience workshops engage municipal staff, elected officials, utilities, and key community stakeholders to increase understanding of climate risks and vulnerabilities, identify local strengths and weaknesses, and determine adaptation and resilience measures that will keep your community powered.

Who Benefits:

QUEST’s resilience workshops are energy-focused and geared toward local governments and utilities, but can be customized for other audiences to develop resilience literacy, strengthen climate adaptation planning alignment amongst stakeholders, or define adaptation priorities for:

\

Governments (municipal, provincial/territorial and federal)

\

The building and development sector

\

Utilities

\

Local non-profits

\

Energy service providers

\

The public

What We Offer:

QUEST specializes in the development of resilience mapping workshops focused on educating and inspiring participants to take an integrated, systems-thinking approach to energy-focused resilience planning. QUEST delivers workshops focused on:

\

Climate hazard and risk assessment for local government and utility infrastructure

\

Enabling collaboration among key stakeholders to inform resiliency planning and identify local solutions

\

Guidance and recommendations for reducing climate risk and building resilience

We provide four types of services: Energy Mapping Workshops, Community Energy Planning Support, Custom Services, and Resilience Workshops. All of our services are customizable and designed to help you evolve your business model to succeed in the Smart Energy Communities marketplace. We have a seasoned, experienced, and multi-disciplinary team with specialized knowledge in:

Engagement & Community Energy Planning

Community consultation & engagement
Community Energy Planning and Implementation Support
Planning facilitation & alignment
Decision support processes

Convening & Partnership Building

Managing operations of regional & national working groups
Workshop facilitation and delivery
Creating environments where people organizations know that they have been listened to and can learn from one another while remaining an objective convener
Collaborative partnership building
-Project management

Policy & Decision Support

Energy policy & data
Planning alignment
Providing decision support processes & tools
Corporate strategies for policy development
Report research & creation
Community energy metrics, indicators and measurements, and target setting and monitoring